Listener Crossword 4509: Solution Notes
Disappearances by ’Eck
Puzzle explanation
The bar pattern divided the initial grid, shown here, into two regions: A (the top half) and B (the bottom half). The letters omitted from entries in the top half were a jumble of “Ferdinand”; those from the bottom half were a jumble of “Ariel, The Tempest”. The corrections to clue misprints for entries in the bottom half spelt out “in his third speech”, a reference to Ariel’s lines:
Not a soul
But felt a fever of the mad and play’d
Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners
Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel,
Then all afire with me: the king’s son, Ferdinand,
With hair up-staring, — then like reeds, not hair, —
Was the first man that leap’d; cried, ‘Hell is empty
And all the devils are here.’
Misprint corrections for the top half spelt out “alternating ditch, switch”, so the letters from the bottom half of the grid were alternately discarded or used to replace the contents of the corresponding cell in the top half. The result showed eight devils, symmetrically arranged: incubus, Eblis, Davy Jones, Mephisto, Apollyon, Beelzebub, Satan, Lucifer. The puzzle’s title refers to appearances from Dis, the underworld.
Clue explanations
Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal
| Misprint | Answer | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Across | ||
| ROCK BASS | ROCK + BASS | |
| FELLAS | FELLS around A | |
| FARADAY | FAR + YADA (yada yada) < | |
| dram(A) | O’NEILL | ONE ILL |
| (L)etters | ALEPHS | PH in ALES |
| S(T)iff | STOOR | ROOTS < |
| lous(E) | NIT | 2 meanings |
| Adve(R)t | INSET | IN + SET |
| fro(N)tier | BANAT | A in BANT |
| H(A)ppy | TRA-LA | ((visu)AL ART(s)) < |
| Cu(T)er’s | TOOL POST | TOOT around (L + SOP <) |
| ac(I)d | NEALS | (p)LANES’ * |
| SENTINEL | SENT + LINE * | |
| i(N) | ACT FOR | (OF CART) * |
| ANNULUS | ANNUL + US | |
| BOOBYISH | BOSH around (O + BY + I) | |
| D(I) | JANUS | J + (f)AN(s) (m)US(t) |
| GAME POINT | (NO PIG MEAT) * | |
| TENCEL | (r)ECENTL(y) * | |
| HEREAT | RE in HEAT | |
| pla(N)t | TOYON | TOY + ON |
| TRAT | TART < | |
| DEEPER | (ÉPÉE in RD) < | |
| LEY LINE | homophone of LAY + LINE | |
| crus(H)ed | NIBBED | BIN < + BED |
| IMBIBER | I’M + B(lotto) in BIER | |
| SAVANT | SANT around (V(isual) A(ids)) | |
| t(I)e | SOUBISE | (B + I) in SOUSE |
| Down | ||
| INFANTAS | (TANS NAIF) * | |
| ODAL | ADO < + L | |
| (G)reek | CRETAN | C + RE + TAN |
| (D)am’s | BAH | POOH-BAH − POOH |
| sa(I)d | SESE | SEE around S |
| (T)oper | SOT | (Le)SOT(ho) |
| ENNOBLE | (Sarac)EN NO BLE(mish) | |
| (C)ancer | LEO | LE + O |
| nos(H) | AL PASTO | (ALAS OPT) * |
| (S)lop | SLATTER | STARLET * |
| (W)ear | PILEI | PILE + I |
| RAN OFF | NORA * + FF | |
| F(I)rm | IRON | NORI < |
| pla(T)e | NAAN | NANA with second half reversed |
| STILE | homophone of STYLE | |
| (C)ash | TOEA | (down-)TO-EA(rth) |
| s(H)ot | PUT | 2 meanings |
| A(S)ians | AFGHANS | HA in FANGS * |
| plan(T) | NEMESIA | (I SEE MAN) * |
| INDEED | DENIED * | |
| (H)ockey | UMP | UMP(h) |
| (I)tem | UNIT | U(prising) + TIN < |
| c(R)op | OATY | (g)OAT + (da)Y |
| Informe(D) | ON TO | O + NOT * |
| pat(S)y | BUNNY | DUNNY with B(eef) for the first letter |
| (P)arts | ILEA | (G)I(r)L (v)E(g)A(n) |
| cur(E) | SALTERS | ALTER in SS |
| (E)ire | VOTEEN | TEE in VON |
| SCRIBES | S + CRIES around B | |
| (C)ooking | ORZO | ZO after OR |
| PEBA | PE BA | |
| PEDS | PS around ED | |
| s(H)allow | EBB | BE < + B |
| NEET | homophone of NEAT | |